Remnants Of Oil Spill Dot Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH — As some beach-goers begrudgingly soaked oil off swimming suits Friday, they expressed relief that an oil slick that washed ashore late Thursday was not worse.

"At least you can use the beach," said Kristen Beals, whose son, Chase, had to be scrubbed for more than an hour after a swim Thursday. "It's not as critical as it could have been."

Beals and others walked Friday morning along Sandbridge Beach where beads of oil peppered the sand at the high tide mark. Oil beads also washed ashore to the north, at the Navy's Fleet Combat Training Center at Dam Neck.

Most of the oil, which stretched seven miles Thursday night, apparently evaporated, said Capt. Eugene K. Johnson, the U.S. Coast Guard official in charge of the cleanup. He said they had no estimate of the size of the spill. "We're going to keep our eyes open to see if it reappears. From what I've seen so far, I sort of doubt that," he said.

Four or five men picked up some of the oil globs for six hours Friday, for which their employer, Industrial Marine Service of Norfolk, will receive almost $4,000 in federal money, according to Coast Guard and company officials.

One three-man crew at Sandbridge, overseen by two Coast Guard personnel, used shovels and leaf rakes to put the largest globs in plastic bags. One Coast Guard officer said the company recovered "a couple barrels" during the cleanup.

In a news conference Friday morning, Johnson said the source of the spill probably will not be found. Although investigators can link an oil sample to its source through chemical analysis, it would not be feasible to test every ship in Hampton Roads, he said.

Johnson said it was uncommon for ships to illegally discharge fuel and oil, but a Virginia Institute of Marine Science professor disagreed. Jack Musick, a marine scientist, said he often sees the discharges as he flies over the ocean while working on research projects. Fuel is often mixed with a detergent to disperse it, Musick said.

Coast Guard Lt. W.J. Westphal said the oil found Thursday won't be tested to determine its type. He guessed that it was a ship's diesel fuel that had collected with water in the ship's bilge or hull. The waste fuel can be a sign of malfunction, and it is sometimes dumped for fear that inspectors will find a problem with a vessel, he said.

But a spokesman for the Virginia Pilot's Association in Norfolk, who asked not to be named, said that was unlikely.

Tankers switching cargos from oil to coal sometimes pump excess oil overboard 250 miles to 300 miles offshore, bypassing the time-consuming method of pumping it onto a barge after coming into port, he said. After the ship is docked, the coal is loaded into the same compartments that held oil.

Musick said the slick could have threatened marine animals, including endangered leatherback turtles swimming about five miles south of the slick, Musick said.

Musick, in a scheduled flyover Thursday, said he spotted 37 leatherbacks migrating north to New England and Nova Scotia, where they spend the summer. In 10 years of counting, Musick said he has seen only about five leatherbacks in an entire summer.

The oil could have damaged the salt glands around the turtles' eyes, Musick said. The glands help the turtle's kidneys get rid of excess salt. While dolphins would have detected the spill and stayed clear, the result could have been fatal for the turtles, which aren't as smart and are slower swimmers, he added.

The oil was more of a nuisance for Kristen Beals and her family, who put children's bathing suits in charcoal lighter fluid to get the oil out of them.

"We spent an hour and a half getting the oil off the kids," said Kristen's husband, Jeff, who complained that they were given no warning that the oil was coming ashore.

"It seems that they could have come out with a bullhorn," he said. "But maybe that's too much to expect."